1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to containers for lawn, garden and household use and more particularly to containers adapted for use with patio furniture.
2. Description of Related Art
Containers for lawn, garden and household use and particularly for use with patio furniture can take many forms, such as vases for plants and flowers, cup holders, utensil holders and the like. Each specific container generally is a free-standing container with a receptacle for resting on a flat surface. The receptacle might be water-tight to carry plants or flowers in a liquid. Alternatively, the receptacle might be adapted for carrying other items, such as eating utensils and other items. When such a container is placed on a table with limited area, particularly as is encountered with patio furniture tables, the container and its contents can cover a significant portion of the table, often to the exclusion of other items, such as serving dishes, place settings and the like used for entertaining. When such a container is used as a vase, the use of such space may, in fact, lead to the omission of the flowers even though they would make an attractive addition.
Certain patio furniture, particularly patio tables and chairs, include an umbrella mounted on top of a pole that, in turn is positioned through the center of the table or the arm of a chair. Different types of containers have been proposed that are adapted for use in such situations. For example, U.S. Letters Patent No. DES 386,114 to Carson, discloses a tree collar planter. The planter has an annular shape, but terminates to provide a radial slot to a center opening. It appears that this planter is designed to sit on the ground around a tree trunk and that the radial slot can be expanded to spread to allow the planter to be slipped around a tree and then repositioned manually around the tree.
United States Letters Patent No. DES 351,121 to Lauchlan discloses a vase for an umbrella table in which the vase has an annular form. A center opening apparently receives the umbrella pole, but seems to require that the vase be slipped over a free end of the umbrella pole.
United States Letters Patent No. DES 400,823 to Bagshaw discloses an umbrella support plant pot with a cylindrical receptacle and a central, axially extending tube to form an annular planting portion. It would appear that this plant pot can only be inserted over the free end of an umbrella pole.
Each of the containers disclosed in the Carson, Lauchlan and Bagshaw patents rests on a horizontal support surface like a table. In such use, each would occupy space on the table unnecessarily. In certain applications, the annular nature of the receptacle can lead to the use of such a receptacle. For example, an attractive arrangement of flowers around an annular container as disclosed in each of those patents can be more difficult to achieve than in a normal cylindrical vase. Finally, the Lauchlan and Bagshaw patents disclose vases that must be inserted over the free end of a pole. There is no way to insert these while the pole is in place and in use.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a container that can be supported above a table surface.
Another object of this invention is to provide a container that can be supported above a table surface on a pole.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a container that can attach to a pole and an umbrella table.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a container for attachment to an umbrella table pole that is easy to use.
Still yet another object of this invention is to provide a container for attachment to an umbrella table pole that is easy to manufacture.
In accordance with this invention, a container for attachment to a pole includes a receptacle with an exterior wall and a releasable clamp on the exterior of the receptacle. The releasable clamp has a passage that passes transversely onto the pole and fixes the container at a selected position along the pole.
In accordance with another aspect of this invention, a container for attachment to a vertical pole of a given diameter comprises a frustoconical receptacle having a closed end, an open end and being bounded by an exterior wall. An integrally molded, releasable clamp attaches to a portion of a receptacle. The clamp has first and second deflectable, arcuate arm portions terminating in counterfacing, spaced free ends defining a passage that is narrower than the diameter of the pole. The arms define a C-clamp structure having a diameter that is also less than the pole diameter. Each of the free ends deflect to increase the passage size and enable the C-clamp to encircle the pole whereupon the arms return toward an original position to clamp the container on the pole.